Texas Attorney General Opinions
Free plain-English summaries of attorney general opinions issued in Texas, with full citations and the original source on every page.
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Can a Texas county judge hire a county commissioner's spouse if the commissioners court delegated its hiring power to the judge?
No. A commissioners court has implied authority to hire people needed for county business, and it can, by official action, delegate that hiring authority to the county judge. But delegation does not g…
Can a Texas county pay its court clerks a one-time bonus for extra work they already did?
It depends, and the AG could not give a flat yes or no because the answer turns on facts. The Brown County Auditor asked whether article III, section 53 of the Texas Constitution barred a proposed one…
Can a county judge's brother run for sheriff in Texas?
Yes. The AG concluded that neither the state nepotism statute (Government Code chapter 573) nor the conflict-of-interest statute (Local Government Code chapter 171) bars a county judge's brother from …
When must a Texas county combine separate purchases to reach the $50,000 competitive bidding threshold?
Only in narrow circumstances. The AG advised that the County Purchasing Act's anti-splitting rule, Local Government Code section 262.023(c), forces a county to treat separate, sequential, or component…
Can a Texas county or judge require masks in courthouses and county buildings?
Yes, through several different officials, the AG concluded. Harris County Attorney Vince Ryan asked who could require face coverings in courtrooms, courthouses, and other county buildings during the C…
Can a county's contract collection attorney go after unpaid restitution owed to a crime victim?
The AG concluded it can. Article 103.0031 of the Code of Criminal Procedure lets a commissioners court hire a private attorney or vendor to collect a list of criminal items, and that list expressly in…
Can a Texas official appoint a relative to an unpaid volunteer job that only reimburses expenses?
The AG concluded yes. Texas nepotism law bars a public official from appointing a close relative to a position compensated from public funds. But reimbursing a volunteer for the actual expenses incurr…
Does Texas nepotism law let a county hospital hire the county judge's spouse?
The AG concluded that Texas nepotism law does not bar the Pecos County Memorial Hospital from employing the county judge's spouse. The nepotism statute (Government Code section 573.041) only stops a p…
Can a county's private debt-collection vendor edit court records or dockets in Texas?
The AG gave a nuanced answer. He would not provide a single definition of 'court record' or 'court docket,' explaining both terms mean different things in different contexts. On the substance, he conc…
Can a Texas county juvenile board hire its own full-time in-house attorney instead of relying on the district attorney?
The AG concluded that the Dallas County Juvenile Board could hire an attorney as a full-time, in-house employee to provide legal services to the board and its juvenile department, so long as the board…
Can a Texas county juvenile board adopt a personnel manual for its probation department?
The AG concluded yes. Even though a special statute exempts the Rockwall County Juvenile Board from some of the general policy provisions that apply to other county juvenile boards, that exemption doe…
How does Texas appoint and pay a temporary justice of the peace?
A county auditor asked five questions about temporary justices of the peace appointed under Government Code section 27.055. The AG concluded that a county judge may appoint only one qualified person a…
Can a Texas commissioners court change the weekday it holds its regular monthly meetings?
A county district attorney asked whether a commissioners court could change the day of the week it convenes for its regular monthly term during the current fiscal year, after it had already designated…
When can a Texas county hold an election to create an emergency services district?
The Attorney General concluded that, for Navarro County in 2012, the next available date to hold an election creating an emergency services district was November 6, 2012, the November uniform election…
In a large Texas county, who chooses the outside lawyer for the county's lawsuits, the commissioners or the DA?
The Attorney General concluded that in Dallas County the line runs like this: the commissioners court decides whether to bring or defend a lawsuit, but Local Government Code section 89.001 makes the C…
Can a Texas county auditor make the county treasurer get approval before transferring money between accounts or investments?
Yes, with a limit on the investment side. The Attorney General concluded that a county auditor's broad oversight authority lets the auditor adopt regulations and procedures requiring the county treasu…
Can a Texas county hire a private firm to collect delinquent court fines without infringing the district attorney's prosecutorial power?
Yes, the Attorney General concluded. Article 103.0031 of the Code of Criminal Procedure lets a county's commissioners court contract with a private attorney or vendor to collect unpaid fines, fees, co…
Can a Texas county buy a generator and lease it to a local radio station?
The Guadalupe County Attorney asked the Attorney General whether it would violate the Texas Constitution for the county to spend public money on a generator and then lease it to KWED, a local AM radio…
Can a Texas county auditor hire outside lawyers without the county attorney's consent?
Yes, on the facts here. The Attorney General concluded that the Henderson County Attorney had no exclusive duty to represent the county in all civil legal matters, so the county auditor's retention of…
Can a Texas county cremate the body of an unidentified pauper?
No. The Attorney General concluded that even though a county may dispose of a deceased pauper's body by cremation under Health and Safety Code section 694.002(a), section 716.101 flatly prohibits a cr…
How can a Texas county legally sell seized eight-liner gambling machines?
By competitive bid or auction, not a private bulk sale. The Attorney General concluded that article 18.18 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, which allows forfeited gambling contraband to be destroyed …
Can a Texas county pay an official's criminal defense legal fees?
It can choose to, but it doesn't have to. The Attorney General concluded a Texas county has no statutory or common-law duty to pay for the criminal defense of its officers and employees (the duty to p…
Can a Texas constable own a wrecker service that's on the sheriff's rotation list?
The Attorney General concluded that the conflict-of-interest provisions in chapter 171 of the Local Government Code do not prohibit a county constable from owning and operating a wrecker service that …
Can a Texas county pay performance bonuses to only some of its employees?
The Attorney General concluded that Smith County's proposed incentive bonus plan for certain county employees would not violate article III, section 53 of the Texas Constitution, which bars extra comp…
Does a Texas commissioners court have to formally decide whether a newspaper is one of 'general circulation' before publishing county notices in it?
The Harrison County Criminal District Attorney asked, with two competing papers each claiming the status, whether the commissioners court had to formally determine which is a 'newspaper of general cir…
Can a Texas judge sue the county for back pay if it underpaid the salary the law required?
Wise County asked whether a statutory county court judge could recover back pay after the county collected court fees but, for years, failed to raise the judge's salary to the level Government Code se…
Can a Texas county put its criminal-fine collections under the county treasurer instead of the county clerk?
A county attorney asked whether the commissioners court could create a collections department, staffed by the county treasurer's deputies acting as cashiers, to collect criminal fines, costs, and fees…
When does a newly elected Texas sheriff take office if they are replacing someone the Commissioners Court appointed to fill a vacancy?
On January 1 of the year following the election, according to this 2004 opinion. Even though the appointed incumbent's statutory term runs only until the next general election, article XVI, section 17…
How is the justice of the peace picked for a Texas county bail bond board, and can members be removed for missing meetings?
The Attorney General answered three questions about the El Paso County Bail Bond Board. First, the statute that lists a 'justice of the peace' as a board member does not say how that member is chosen,…
Does an assistant prosecutor's longevity-pay service credit carry over between Texas counties?
Yes. The Attorney General concluded that 'lifetime service credit,' which determines longevity pay for assistant prosecutors under subchapter D of chapter 41 of the Government Code, does not have to b…
What happens to a Texas constable when redistricting abolishes his precinct?
The Attorney General concluded that, under article V, section 18(c) of the Texas Constitution, a constable whose precinct is abolished by redistricting serves out the rest of his elected term in the p…
Can a Texas county pay deputies for accrued vacation or comp time it didn't allow when the time was earned?
The Attorney General concluded no. Paying for accrued vacation or compensatory time that the county did not permit to be paid out when it accrued would be unconstitutional retroactive extra compensati…
Can a Texas county limit which employee groups qualify for dues payroll deduction?
The Attorney General concluded yes. Because a commissioners court is not required to set up a dues payroll-deduction program at all, it may set one up subject to reasonable standards, such as requirin…
Can a Texas county put probation department employees under its civil service system?
The Attorney General concluded that a county cannot include community-supervision-and-corrections department employees (probation officers and staff) in a county civil-service system, even one expande…
Can a Texas county stop an elected official from sending staff home early?
The Attorney General concluded that an elected county official can dismiss the employees in his or her office for all or part of a day, for any reason, as long as the closure serves some public purpos…
Can a Texas county let oil companies run temporary water lines along a county road right-of-way?
The Attorney General concluded that a county's right to allow public utility lines on or under its road right-of-way does not, by itself, give it the legal right to grant a separate easement to a thir…
Does a Texas county auditor's salary cap include the state salary supplement?
The Attorney General concluded yes. A county auditor's compensation may not exceed what the highest paid elected county officer (in Henderson County, the county attorney) receives, and section 152.032…
Who can electronically transfer county tax money to the Texas county treasury?
The Attorney General concluded that county tax funds can be moved electronically from the tax assessor-collector's account at the county depository to the county treasury, even though no statute spell…
In Texas, who pays to bury an indigent person, the county or the family?
The Attorney General concluded that under section 694.002 of the Health and Safety Code, the county must provide for and pay to dispose of a deceased pauper's remains according to its own rules, even …
Can Randall County have fewer than four justice of the peace precincts?
The Attorney General concluded that a 1999 amendment to the Texas Constitution added Randall County (alongside Chambers County) to a clause letting those counties set their justice of the peace and co…
Can a non-veteran be a veterans county service officer in Texas, and how is it challenged?
The Attorney General concluded that a person who is not a veteran of the armed forces is ineligible to serve as a veterans county service officer, except for a widowed Gold Star Mother or unremarried …
Does a Texas deputy constable have to live in the precinct where he works?
The Attorney General concluded that no statute or constitutional provision required a deputy constable to live in the precinct for which he was appointed. The Election Code's residency requirement app…
Can a Texas county make a bail bond company post a letter of credit for each agent?
The Attorney General concluded that chapter 1704 of the Occupations Code requires a corporate bail bond surety to furnish one letter of credit to get licensed in a county, and a county bail bond board…
Can a county sheriff police a city inside the county without an agreement, and must service be equal because residents pay county taxes?
The Attorney General concluded that a Texas sheriff is the conservator of the peace for the entire county, so he is authorized to provide law enforcement inside an incorporated city within the county …
Can a county pay a former employee for unused vacation time after he becomes a county officer?
The Attorney General concluded that where a county's personnel policy credits unused vacation time only on the anniversary of an employee's start date, an employee who resigns before that anniversary …
Does a Texas sheriff have to use competitive bidding to spend jail commissary money?
The Attorney General concluded that a sheriff may spend jail-commissary proceeds under section 351.0415 of the Local Government Code without following the competitive procurement rules of the County P…
Does closing a county road in Texas require a unanimous commissioners court vote?
The Attorney General concluded that closing a public road requires a unanimous vote of the commissioners court, and that this applies whether the road is a through street or a cul-de-sac. Section 251.…
Can a Texas commissioners court continue a meeting for up to a week without posting a new notice?
Jose Rodriguez, the El Paso County Attorney, asked whether a commissioners court could continue a meeting for up to one week without reposting notice, pointing to the Local Government Code provision t…
Does a Texas county tax assessor-collector have to register with the state board if the county contracts out its tax collection?
Brazos County Attorney James Kuboviak asked the Attorney General two questions about Tax Code section 6.24(b), which lets a county contract to have its property taxes assessed and collected by another…
Can a Texas county juvenile probation board enter contracts and spend money without the commissioners court's approval?
The El Paso County Attorney asked whether the county's juvenile probation board could contract and authorize expenditures for the juvenile department without going through the commissioners court. The…
Can a Texas county pay an official's legal fees for fighting an election contest?
A county attorney asked whether Frio County could reimburse its sheriff for the attorney's fees he ran up defending an election contest after a close primary runoff. The Attorney General said no, and …
If a Texas county adopted the optional county road law decades ago, is that still in effect, and can the county hire a road administrator instead of a licensed engineer?
The Waller County district attorney asked whether the county's old adoption of the Optional County Road Law of 1947 was wiped out when the Legislature repealed and recodified that law in 1983, and whe…
Can a Texas constable who never got a peace officer license run for re-election?
The Attorney General concluded in 1995 that yes. The law requires an elected constable to obtain a peace officer license within two years of taking office, but that deadline is a condition for remaini…
Can a Texas county pay to fly in a job candidate for an interview?
The Attorney General concluded that yes, in some circumstances. A county commissioners court may pay the travel expenses of someone applying for a county job, such as a county forensic pathologist (me…
Do Texas insurance mandates apply to a county's self-funded employee health plan?
The Attorney General concluded that several Texas Insurance Code provisions, including the HIV/AIDS data article (1.24C), the chemical dependency coverage article (3.51-9), and the dental benefits art…
Can a Texas county commissioners court create its own civil process office?
No. The Attorney General concluded that a county commissioners court has no express or implied statutory authority to set up a civil process department that operates separately from the sheriff. The o…
Can a Texas commissioners court overturn an ex officio road commissioner's firing of a road employee, or move that worker to another precinct?
The Attorney General reached a mixed conclusion. On whether an ex officio road commissioner can fire full-time road employees to save money without risking discrimination suits, the opinion noted the …
Can a Texas juvenile board raise the salaries of its own county judge members?
No. The Attorney General concluded that the juvenile board for Castro, Hale, and Swisher counties had no authority to set the salaries of its members. Human Resources Code section 152.0411(c) gives th…
Who has to transport juveniles between detention and court, and can the county judge order the sheriff to do it?
No one is required by statute. The Attorney General concluded that no Texas law puts a mandatory duty on any officer or office to transport juvenile defendants between the detention center and juvenil…
What is a Texas sheriff responsible for when a private company runs the county jail?
Very little, directly. The Attorney General concluded that when a county contracts with a private vendor to run a detention facility, the sheriff's only duty is the 'regular, on-site monitoring' the s…
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Attorney general opinions in Texas are written by the Texas Attorney General's office in response to questions from state agencies, legislators, and prosecutors. They are not binding like court decisions, but courts and agencies treat them as persuasive guidance on how state law applies. Every opinion above has a plain-English question and short answer, plus a link to the full original text.